120 Minutes
by M. Marchand
Summary: Don gets stuck in detention as a Senior in High School.


Acknowledgements:  
Omi as always  
Beta Kate - Thinking of you  
Beta B - Welcome back, you were missed 

Disclaimers:  
"A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend" - Willow, Buffy the Vampire Slayer  
I do not own the characters Don or Charlie nor do I have any rights to  
anything related to the TV show Numb3rs. I plead fair use and claim  
only my own writing and characters.

* * *

Merry Davies walked into Room 218 for after school detention and groaned when she looked at the chalkboard.

"Mr. Buford? We have Mr. Buford for detention?" she whined. "Kill me now!" She slumped into a chair next to Trina Delgado.

"Could be worse," Trina shrugged as she filed her long nails. "We could have Ms. King."

Merry shuddered. "I am so not going there!" She rummaged through her purse and pulled out her compact and a lipstick. As she was putting on the lipstick, she glanced past the mirror to see Don Eppes saunter into the room.

"Buford? Oh, man! You've got to be kidding me!" Don stared at the board and cursed under his breath. "Screw detention, just ship me straight to hell!"

"Already there, dude," Han Li mumbled as he walked past Don and headed for a seat in the back.

"Merry... Trina..." Don gave both girls a nod and the patented Don Eppes smile as he passed by them.

"Hey, Don," Trina said brightly. Merry flashed a brief smile before going back to her lipstick.

Don dropped his books noisily on a desk and pulled over a chair from the next row to prop his feet up on. He slid down in his chair with his feet up and pulled a sports magazine from between two of his books.

He flipped to the baseball section and started reading. Suddenly the magazine was lifted from his hands. "Hey!"

Once the magazine was removed from his line of sight, he saw Mr. Buford standing in front of him with a smirk on his face.

"Mr. Eppes. I think you must be confusing this with Study Hall." Mr. Buford closed up the magazine, walked over to the teacher's desk and put the magazine in a drawer. He began to pace the front of the classroom as he spoke. "It is now three o'clock. You four are here for detention lasting two hours. 120 minutes. Twenty minutes will be spent listening to my lecture on personal responsibility and self discipline." All four students made near identical sounds of dread and Mr. Buford whipped around to stare at them. A stark hush fell over the room and he proceeded. "The 100 minutes following will be spent doing nothing at all. Nothing. You will not be allowed to read, write, or in any way amuse yourselves. You will sit with your hands on your desk and do nothing for all for 100 minutes. When the clock hits five o'clock, and not a second before, you will be allowed to leave. Do I make myself clear?"

Mr. Buford walked up and down the aisles, staring each student in the face in turn. When he got to Don he brusquely knocked away the chair Don had his feet on, barely giving him enough time to avoid slipping out of his chair.

"I said, do I make myself clear, Mr. Eppes?"

"Absolutely," Don said and then added, "Mr. Bu-fu" in a softer voice, causing both girls to snicker helplessly.

Mr. Buford silenced the girls with a glare. "What did you call me?"

"I called you Mr. Buford, sir. That is your name." Don kept his face perfectly straight, the picture of innocence.

"That's not what it sounded like!"

"I kind of choked on my gum a little." Don popped a bubble to prove he was indeed chewing gum.

"Mr. Eppes..." Mr. Buford put his hands on Don's desk and leaned in close, speaking in a low voice for only Don to hear. "May I remind you that fighting may be grounds for detention, but in some instances it is grounds for suspension, even expulsion? Perhaps you should give your manners some thought before you act out next time."

Don said nothing but popped another bubble, causing Mr. Buford to recoil.

"Out! I want that gum in the trash now!"

Don got up and swaggered to the front of the class, a grin on his face. He stopped short of the trashcan and threw his gum as if shooting a basketball. "Two points!" he said, when he made the shot. He took his time walking back to his seat, winking at Merry along the way, who glanced at him but otherwise didn't respond.

"That's settled. Now, remove all items from your desktops and sit with your hands where I can see them. It's time for my lecture."

After twenty painful minutes Don was fidgeting restlessly, Trina was biting the nails she'd just carefully filed, Merry was barely keeping her head propped up with both hands and Han had liquefied into his seat so far he was almost horizontal.

"Well, I hope you learned something from that!" Mr. Buford said proudly when he was done, surveying the room to see the effect his speech had had.

Four blank faces were all he saw.

"Fine," he growled. "Grow up to be criminals, what do I care?" Mr. Buford glanced up at the clock. "From now until five o'clock you are confined to your seats. Anyone who gets out of his or her seat without permission will get an additional two hours of detention. Anyone who speaks without permission will get an additional two hours of detention. Anyone who comes up with what they think is a clever way to annoy me without speaking or getting out of his or her seat gets an additional two hours of detention, to be served on the weekend."

With a final glare, he walked over to the teacher's desk, pulled out Don's magazine and sat back in the chair to read it.

Don let out a huff of air in frustration.

"Hands where I can see them, Mr. Eppes," Mr. Buford said, not even looking up.

Don tried watching the clock for a while but quickly bored of watching the second hand go around excruciatingly slowly. He closed his eyes and ran through some plays from last week's baseball game. Next, he stared at the back of Merry's head and imagined making out with her.

When he looked back up at the clock, only five minutes had passed.

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He stared at Merry's blonde hair a while longer and tried to imagine having sex with her. He gave that up pretty quickly and squirmed even more uncomfortably in his chair.

He closed his eyes again and let his recent memories unspool in his mind. He could see Charlie on the ground, eyes wide with fear and his lip bloodied. He could see Mitchell Carter standing over him, blood on his fist. He could see Mitchell Carter on the ground, holding his bloody broken nose. The rest of the fight had been a blur, if you could call it a fight. Don only had to get one good punch in and it was over. A teacher had grabbed him and pulled him away before he could get to Charlie, but he could see him being whisked away to the nurse's office as another teacher held Mitchell back from coming after Don.

His father had been livid, angry with him for reacting to violence with violence. His mother had merely held little Charlie tight in her arms as if she'd almost lost him.

Don got grounded for two weeks. Charlie got offered ice cream but turned it down to go to his room in an odd show of solidarity with his brother. The wordless gesture meant more to Don than the mumbled thanks he got from Charlie after dinner that night.

He'd not been happy about sharing his senior year with his brainy kid brother, but he'd be damned if he'd let someone lay a hand on him.

Don looked up at the clock again. Ninety minutes to go. He sighed loudly and got a glare from Mr. Buford for his troubles.

Forty minutes passed and Don had finally settled on a mental pastime. He'd been plotting his major league debut in his head: a diving catch turned into a double play, stealing second base, a bases loaded home run to win the game in the ninth inning, the screaming fans, the pretty girls...

A loud crash startled him out of his own personal fantasy baseball world and he almost leapt to his feet to go see what it was.

"Keep your seats!" Mr. Buford admonished them as he followed the sound of the crash out in the hallway.

"Ms. King!" they heard him call out in a startled voice. They all looked at each other but kept their seats rather than risk additional detention.

They saw several more teachers rush down the hallway. Their voices could be heard but none of them could make out what was being said.

Don took the opportunity to stretch in his seat more than he'd dared to with Mr. Buford in the room and the others seemed to follow his cue. Even Trina snuck her hand in her purse and pulled out a pack of gum. She showed it to Merry, who shook her head. Trina removed a piece and mimed throwing it to Don. Don glanced towards the door to make sure it was all clear, then put out his hands to catch it. She threw it rather inexpertly but he caught it anyway, giving her a nod of thanks that drew a big smile in return.

Don cocked his head back towards Han as if to suggest she offer him some gum but she looked sheepish and a bit guilty. She glanced back his way and Han pointedly ignored her. She took a piece of gum for herself and put the rest in her pocket.

Mrs. Purdue showed up suddenly and looked nervously at the students.

"Mr. Buford asked me to keep an eye on you all until your detention is over at five. He went with Ms. King to the hospital, I'm afraid she's not well. I've got students about to come in for a make-up exam down the hall, so I need you to sit quietly until I return."

Trina raised her hand and Mrs. Purdue called on her. "Yes, Trina."

Trina's face looked as if she might break into tears. "Is Ms. King going to be okay? We heard the crash and Mr. Buford wouldn't let us go see. I was so worried when I heard it was her..."

"There, there, Trina. I'm sure she'll be fine. You don't have to worry about it."

Trina sniffed a little. "Would it be okay if we talked about it a little while you were gone. Dr. Masterson said it's good for us kids to talk about traumatic stuff that happens in school, like when Jeremy and Sandy died in that car accident."

Mrs. Purdue gave Trina a sad smile. "Of course, dear. You may talk quietly amongst yourselves while I am gone if that helps. I'll be back in about ten or fifteen minutes." She walked out and closed the door behind her. They all waited a few seconds in silence, then Merry gave Trina a high-five.

"Way to go, chica!"

Trina grinned. "Yeah, she totally bought it." She turned around in her chair and faced Don. "What did you think?" she asked proudly.

"I think I should have taken a drama class so I could pull something like that off," he said with a laugh. "You totally had her going." Don pulled the chair back to put his feet on and sat back in his chair. "So what are you guys in for? I'm guessing you already heard my story."

Trina and Merry looked at each other nervously, then both glanced back at Han.

Don took in their nonverbal messages and figured out the subtext immediately. "All three of you? Same thing? What, did you get caught cheating?"

Trina looked bashful and Han finally spoke up. "They were cheating. I was merely conducting business."

"Yeah, like selling the answers to a test isn't cheating," Merry huffed.

"I didn't need the answers, I'm already getting straight A's. You guys were the customers in the transaction, not me."

"Hey, I get A's!" Merry protested. "I just need to make sure I get enough of them if I want to get the scholarship I'm after."

"What's your excuse?" Don asked Trina.

She shrugged and looked little uncomfortable. "I had a big family thing on Sunday and didn't have time to study over the weekend."

"Oh sure! It has nothing to do with the fact that you went out Saturday night with Todd Andrews!" Merry said, a hint of disdain in her voice.

"Todd Andrews?" Don said, screwing up his face in distaste.

"I know, I know!" Trina exclaimed. "I was stupid! I should never have said yes when he asked me out but it's not like I had a better offer for Saturday night!"

Don shook his head and turned back to Han. "You do pretty good for yourself in that business?"

Han smirked. "Keeps me from having to flip burgers for extra cash."

"Yeah, but at least you can put that on a resume," Don said with a laugh.

The door opened, startling all of them, and Mrs. Purdue stuck her head inside.

"Good, you're all still here! My students are ready for their make-up exam and I have to stay with them while they're taking the test. Just stay here and behave and I'll be back to check on you just before five o'clock so I can dismiss you on time. I may ask Carl to come check on you, so don't think you can leave just because I'm not here!" she warned. "Any questions?"

Merry raised her hand and asked, "Can't we get a bathroom break?"

Mrs. Purdue checked her watch. "It's only 35 more minutes, Merry. I'm sure you can hold it."

Merry flushed with embarrassment as Mrs. Purdue left.

Once the door was shut, Merry turned to Trina, annoyed. "Why does it work for you and not for me?"

Trina shrugged, trying to stifle her self-satisfied grin. "Maybe it's like Don said. All those drama classes paid off."

"Well, at least we're free to move around, even if we are still stuck here," Don got up and walked over to the teacher's desk. He looked around, then opened up a few drawers. "Crap," he said sullenly.

"What is it?" Trina asked, frowning.

"He must have had my magazine in his hand when he went flying out of here, because I don't see it. Oh, man."

He opened the final drawer and pulled out a partial ream of paper in a torn wrapper. "This is promising, though."

He pulled a half-inch of paper out of the ream and put the rest back. He took the papers back to his desk, stood over the flat surface and started folding one of them.

"Paper airplanes?" Han's face lit up. "Score me some paper, dude!"

Don handed Han a portion of his stack and Han stood at the desk next to him so they could compare techniques. Trina got up as well and stood watching Don as he meticulously made each fold.

Both Han and Don finished their planes about the same time.

"Aim for the far corner?" Han suggested.

"Sure, but yours is never going to make it. Those wings aren't wide enough."

"We'll see," Han said with a grin.

They both let loose with their planes at once. Both made it to the corner but Han's just barely.

"Mine needs more lift," Don mused. "I want it to end up on top of the bookcase, not at the base of it."

They started folding again, comparing notes as they went. The next run was better, with both planes crashing into the wall about a foot off the ground.

Merry sighed with boredom and tried to ignore them, but ended up watching from her seat.

The next run had Don's design landing on the third shelf of the bookcase. Trina applauded, but Merry shushed her and went to look out the small window in the door for a second to make sure no one heard her.

By the time they hit their sixth run they had quite a pile of paper airplanes going in the corner.

Han stood waiting for Don to finish folding his seventh, then suddenly froze. "Uh oh," he said ominously.

Don looked up to see what was going on and followed Han's gaze to the door. The face of Carl the janitor was visible in the window.

"We are so busted," Trina said, scurrying back to her seat.

Don and Han sat down as Carl opened the door, dragging a large trashcan on wheels behind him.

"Funny, I thought this room was for detention, not elementary aerodynamics."

Don tried and failed to hold back a smile.

Carl looked at the four of them and dragged his trashcan to the corner where the planes lay on the floor. He picked them all up and threw them into the trashcan.

"What you need is a good target," he said, with a sly wink in Don's direction. He rolled the trashcan into the corner and left it there. "And you need an extra fold in the back of the plane to give it some lift." Carl picked up the plane from the bookcase and added an extra fold to it before sailing it perfectly towards Don's desk.

Don caught the plane gently and looked at the new design before smiling back at Carl. "Thanks," he said.

Carl headed for the door. "I'm going to let Mrs. Purdue know you're all still here. If anyone asks, I'll come back for that trashcan later. If they ask where the paper airplanes in it came from, tell them I was just cleaning out Mr. Oliver's classroom."

All four students snickered, even those who didn't have classes with the notoriously narcoleptic teacher.

With a wave and a nod, Carl left.

"How cool was that?" Don marveled, sailing his plane across the room. It hit the wall about five feet up, then dropped neatly into the trashcan.

"Totally cool!" Trina gushed. "So awesome! I can't believe Carl didn't get us in trouble."

"Fifteen minutes to go," Merry said, staring at the clock. "God, will this day ever end?"

Trina ignored Merry and turned back to Don. "Make another one!"

Don and Han went back to their paper airplane making. Han managed to get his in the trashcan each time and on his eleventh try Don finally got a plane to land on top of the bookcase. It slid almost completely out of sight, but a tiny hint of white was still visible on top.

As the top of the hour neared, they all took their seats again. Don divvied up the last of the paper and they crumpled it into balls, stuffed them in their pockets and took turns shooting trashcan basketball as the others watched the door for Mrs. Purdue.

Trina missed a few shots and rushed to pick them up, just in case. They ran out of paper a couple of minutes before the teacher finally came to the door.

"Well, everything looks in order here," she said as she surveyed the room. She frowned when she saw Carl's trashcan though. "What's that doing in here?"

She headed over to look but Merry interrupted her. "Please, Mrs. Purdue! It's almost time and you wouldn't let any of us take a bathroom break!"

Mrs. Purdue stopped and came back to the front of the class.

"Carl said he'd be back for it later," Merry added.

"Yeah, he said something about how he'd been cleaning Mr. Oliver's room," Han added quickly.

"Please," Merry begged.

Mrs. Purdue looked up at the clock. "Well, I don't think the world is going to end if I let you out five minutes early. Go on, if the bathroom is calling you. You're all dismissed."

"Thanks, Mrs. Purdue," Merry and Trina said, almost in unison. Mrs. Purdue walked out and left them alone to gather their things and go.

"Nicely done," Han said to Merry with a grin as he passed her on the way out. "Later, dude," he nodded to Don, who nodded back. With a brief nod to Trina as well, he headed out the door.

"Later," Merry said to both Trina and Don, who waved and nodded their farewells.

Don walked out with Trina and found his magazine abandoned on the floor in the hallway.

"You know, Trina," Don said kindly. "Todd Andrews really isn't the guy for you."

"Really?" Trina said expectantly.

"Yeah, you know who you should go out with?"

"Who?" Trina asked breathlessly.

"Doug Chandler," Don said. "He's a great guy. A little quiet, maybe, but a great guy. You'd like him and, just as importantly, he'd like you and treat you right."

"Doug Chandler?" Trina said, a little surprised.

"Absolutely," Don assured her. "Just, you know, hang out with him and be nice to him and I'm sure he'd ask you out. You guys would be great together."

"You think so?" Trina asked.

"Yeah, I do,"

"Awesome... Doug Chandler..." Trina mused, a bit of a faraway look in her eyes. "Thanks," she said distractedly. "See you around."

"Later!" Don waved goodbye as they walked out of the building.

Don headed for the street to walk home and spied a small figure sitting on a planter near the street; his legs - too short to reach the ground - kicking against the planter in a bored pattern.

"Mom and Dad know where you are?" Don said as he approached.

Charlie shrugged. "What are they going to do? Ground me? I'm already staying in my room this week and next week."

Don gave him a nudge and Charlie jumped down from the planter as they headed for home.

"You don't have to do that. You didn't start a fight."

"Neither did you," Charlie said. "You wouldn't have gotten into trouble if it wasn't for me."

"Don't be so sure," Don joked. "I get into plenty of trouble on my own. This time though..." he looked down at his kid brother for a moment, "...it was worth it."

Charlie looked up at Don and smiled. "Thanks."

"No problem, buddy."

They walked a while in silence until Charlie finally asked. "So, how was detention?"

Don smiled to himself before answering.

"Oh, just the usual."


End file.
